Listen, I will read anything La Quette writes! She is a master storyteller and builds her characters in a way that you have to get to the end to find out. I loved the title, the cover and just how wonderful she is words!

I was honestly expecting a second chance kind of romance, but what I got was a wonderful enemies to lovers romance featuring characters who really could be your neighbors. Fully developed people you would want to be friends with in real life with the kind of love story you love to hear at weddings.

Devoured in one sitting! This was so delicious the cover and the drama. Vanessa was such a good character with a brave backstory - I was rooting for her to get this man. I liked the tease at the end and hope there’s a second book set in this town

This was a fun debut! Vanessa Jared is still reeling and healing from her divorce from her huband of 20 years, When she tries and fails to join a support group for other divorcees, she meets up with two other single 40-somethings. They form the Savvy, Sexy, Singles Club and join forces to rebuild their lives better together.

But two years later, Vanessa is still struggling to find herself. That’s when a sexy small-town sheriff shows up on her doorstep. Michael’s sister is engaged to Vanessa’s ex, and he wants her help to stop the wedding.

Vanessa refuses, until she spots her late grandmother’s ring on his sister’s left hand. Vanessa agrees to help dissuade his sister, but only until she gets the ring back.

I enjoyed LaQuette’s writing style and voice. She shows us what it looks like to rebuild a life that’s bigger, better, and stronger. I love the boundaries Vanessa insists on putting in place (and sticking to). There’s some great banter and chemistry, with plenty of open-door steam.

The secondary characters, both her friends and his, are a great complement to the cast, and I’d love to see them pair off in additional stories. Thanks to SMP Romance for a digital review copy.

CW: death of parents, emotional abuse

Honestly I could have read this in one day! I love a romance novel that’s 250 pages. Short, sweet, quick and dirty (and I’m not just talking about the sex scenes which were handled VERY well 😜). I really enjoyed this one. It’s not often that I read about 40 year old Black women (I feel like romance is still a very white and younger genre; most books I read are about women in their late 20s/early 30s) so I am pleased to report that it’s a delight. It does talk about some heavy issues (content warnings before) but the author handles them respectfully and gracefully. These two characters know how to communicate, which was honestly very refreshing. The third act miscommunication made a lot of sense and honestly, it was handled very, very well. I’m excited to go back through this author’s catalog and see what else she has to offer.

A big thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for an advance copy!

We don’t get many books about divorced women finding love again. I loved this plot because the story was a bit unconventional but it worked. I was so happy they were able to get the young woman out of the grips of that sick man. I loved the friendships in this book. It made it feel more than romance can’t wait to tell all my friends about it

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the arc.

I absolutely loved this book. I am usually not one for Insta-love but Michael and Vanessa were perfect! I love the dialogue around healing from emotional abuse and trauma. I love the strong friend groups and women who uplift other women. The side characters were truly amazing and friends that you would want in your corner.

I think what I loved the most was the character growth for Vanessa. She truly has an amazing character arc and I loved how strong she is. She talks about her ex and the abuse she suffered and you know he is the bad guy but that storyline does not take over the entire book. It is a foundation for the growth of Vanessa's character and it's done beautifully. Highly recommend!

When a big city divorcée and a small town sheriff team up to stop her slimy ex from marrying his little sister, sparks fly... or at least, that's this book's MacGuffin. Very little time is spent on the big plan or on the development of the little sister, who could have been an interesting foil to our heroine. The actual plot, however, is a typical — and quite fun, once you know what you're in for — small town romance between Actual Adults, with a lot of heat. *fans self*

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

It was very emotional. Vanessa...damn she went through a lot and this was as much a romance as it was a book about her journey to finding herself but like angst and all.

I'm not a big angst self-discovery reader but I think that LaQuette does a good job making us care about her early on. And her friend group!! what a riot!

Thank you to Daina @dai2daireader for enthusiastically recommending Vanessa Jared’s Got a Man. Daina’s review plus this stunning cover made me want to pick it up.

Contemporary romance lovers, check out this book. A mix of sweet small-town scenes, very Hallmark channel-esque, with steamy open-door scenes

I love that Vanessa is a 40-year-old, divorced female protagonist in a romance novel. Vanessa is getting her confidence back after a 20-year emotionally abusive marriage, and she is becoming her whole and true self. Vanessa makes new friends and meets a handsome small-town sheriff in unusual ways in this novel, and her life changes for the better.

One critique–excessive and lengthy similes distracted from the reading experience. Sometimes descriptive language isn’t necessary when the reader already gets the picture.

I really enjoyed this story about a woman getting her groove back and a second chance at love! It has the perfect blend of sweet and spicy as well as light and serious. Both in their 40s, Vanessa and Michael are genuine and wonderful characters with flaws. While their romance is the main storyline, I liked that we see significant growth from both of them.

Vanessa and Michael aren’t the only lovable characters. Both have a great group of besties who provide comic relief and tough love advice when needed. I’m looking forward to what might happen next with this group of friends.

If you are looking for older MCs, a romance with depth, and a quaint small-town vibe, Vanessa Jared’s Got a Man belongs on your tbr.

✨ Favorite Quote: “The idea that we have to have everything figured out at any given point in our lives is a lie. You know that, don’t you?” ✨

While the concept for this novel initially intrigued me, the actualization lost me within the first few chapters. Neither of the main characters felt well enough fleshed out in that time to follow further nor did their circumstance/the premise of the story itself feel believable enough to go along with.

This had a lot of elements I wanted to like: small town romance, forced proximity, later-in-life love story, teaming up to take down a no-good ex… Unfortunately, I could tell pretty early on that I wasn’t feeling it and that never really changed.

The connection between Vanessa and Michael was purely physical, I truly don’t know why they liked each other. And it happened instantly, the moment Michael first saw her he was ogling her and it just felt kinda gross. The sex scenes are also all from Michael’s POV (why?), so it left me with this weird feeling of the book being really sexualized on his side and Vanessa was just… there. When they broke up in the third act I actually thought it made perfect sense and didn’t really see any reason why they should get back together.

I had some issues with the writing as well, people were frequently described as being witty or unusually perceptive when they were literally repeating something that had just been said. There were also some words used incorrectly (“Are you okay?” “Everything’s fine,” she quipped. ???) which would have pulled me out of the story no matter how into it I was.

The actual storyline (Vanessa’s ex and Michael’s sister getting engaged with Vanessa’s stolen ring) takes a major backseat to the romance until the very end and then it’s resolved in a couple of pages. I wanted more drama! More anything! It was just… over.

I did enjoy the small town vibes, the diversity, and the fact that the characters are older than most typical romcoms. And the cover is gorgeous! Ultimately though, this one wasn’t for me.


Thank you to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars

I’m not sure I quite have my head wrapped around my thoughts about this book, but I think the majority of my issues have to do with not feeling like I connected with the main characters. Vanessa is divorced and was in an emotionally abusive relationship for 2 decades. Michael lost both of his parents ten years ago and has been caring for his younger sister ever since. I don’t have any experiences like that in my past. These events greatly affected the decision-making for both main characters, so without that connection I couldn’t really understand their motivations. Another reason I didn’t quite connect is because it was pretty insta-lusty and I just prefer a slower more emotional development between main characters.

Michael finds Vanessa and asks for her help because his sister is engaged to Vanessa’s ex. He doesn’t want to see what happened to Vanessa happen to his sister. Vanessa ultimately agrees to help this stranger because he happens to be from the same small town as her two best friends and they’ve vouched for him. Through a series of events, Vanessa ends up staying with Michael at his house for 4 or 5 days and they give in to their deep attraction to one another. Eventually she talks to his sister and she has no reason to stay any longer aside for her feelings for Michael. There were several decisions made by both characters at this point that I didn’t really understand. Michael’s motivations were revealed to Vanessa the same time they were revealed to the reader so it felt like it came out of nowhere. There were also conversations towards the end of the book that I believe were setting up the next book with one of Vanessa’s best friends but it felt really forced and out of place.

There wasn’t anything wrong with the story but I just wasn’t connecting with things so I couldn’t get myself excited for the couple and their romance.

I did receive a copy of the ebook through NetGalley but ended up also listening to the audiobook from my library. My thoughts are my own!

ARC REVIEW FOR VANESSA JARED'S GOT A MAN

2 stars

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press- St. Martin's Griffin, and LaQuette for the advanced gifted copy.

OOooh I really wanted to like this book. a 40-plus romance set on the East Coast? Sign me up. However, what it ended up being for me is a bunch of characters that are just not great people in general. It ended up being a huge miss for me.

Vanessa, a divorced woman, has trust issues- and understandably so. However, she constantly turned her nose down on the small town where her friends live, in a way that made her look snobby and not cultured. Michael, the local town sheriff, seemed like a nice person, but was super controlling to the point that it made me uncomfortable. The narrative kept reminding us he was a good person, but I couldn't see it. Even the smut scenes made me cringe- and that didn't even happen when reading 50 shades.

The reason I give this story 2 stars instead of 1 is because of two factors: 1) Vanessa's best friends stole the show. Their support for her was unconditional, and I just overall loved their characters. They gave me Boyfriend Project vibes- three woman with a common experience (this being a divorce support group) forge a friendship from it. 2) the amount of diversity in this was refreshing. It was reflective of the world- I didn't feel like it was forced where some authors will make BIPOC characters to fill a quota, this felt natural.

I haven't fully written off this series (if it becomes a series- this book potentially set up 2 other books) but this was a miss for me, so much so that I actually DNF it at 90% because I kept falling sleep and couldn't focus. I would like to see this storyline continue, but I haven't decided if it will be taking me with it or not.

Vanessa Jared's Got a Man by LaQuette is a stellar story of romance and perseverance. While Vanessa was finally strong enough to extricate herself from her toxic marriage, she was still floundering and adrift. As a part of her divorce settlement, she had all the material trappings she could ever need. What she lacked was self-confidence and a strong sense of self. She was incandescently beautiful but was still under the influence of her ex-husband’s mean-spirited mechanisms. He has chiseled away at her self-esteem and made her question her worth as a woman. However, she has carved out an existence, not a life, for herself with the help of two friends and is a founding member of their little support group. Vanessa’s world takes an unexpected turn when she is contacted by Sheriff Michael Park. Michael is in desperate need of Vanessa’s help; his younger sister has been beguiled by Vanessa’s ex husband and they are now engaged! Michael is immediately intrigued by Vanessa’s beauty and spirit, but he knows that it would be foolish to act on his feelings when he is trying to save his sister. LaQuette gives us mature and completely fleshed out characters. Vanessa’s ability to find healing after her ordeal was inspirational. From the beginning to the end of this story, I was engaged in Vanessa’s plight and her growth. Michael was the caring and supportive friend and companion that Vanessa deserved. The end was completely satisfying. In addition, I loved the secondary characters and I look forward to hopefully reading their stories soon!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC for an honest opinion!

https://www.amazon.com/review/R3LU8RF48M4C8H/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

✨this was a really short, sweet, spicy, and cute book with a hot cop (copaganda…? 👀) and a strong black woman who is, at the beginning, healing from being in a toxic marriage.

✨i’d give this book closer to a 3.5/5, but I really enjoyed it! the main characters have their respective friend groups and they really were stars in this read whenever they were around. i really enjoyed the different dynamics and how the author was able to develop some of these longer friendships within a few sentences.

✨overall, this was a quick romance full of steam, friendship, family dynamics, and some more darker themes involving toxic and abusive relationships, and how people come out the other side of those relationships.

✨thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for allowing me to read an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Vanessa Jared's Got a Man is a diverse romance featuring two divorced middle aged individuals - finally some middle age real life people looking for love! But honestly, I never truly found myself enjoying this romance. The divorcee struggles overtook majority of the story for both characters. I also found Vanessa's motivation to help a bit off-putting - YEAH I get she married a shitty man but geez that does not mean she should stick it to him again. She did take majority of his income in her settlement.

This was a ok romance, not a favorite. I will say the cover is incredibly appealing to make me pick it up to read.

Thank you St. Martins Press for the gifted copy to read and review.

Reading this romance was a breath of fresh air with it's diverse cast and older leads. It is so rare to see something like this and add in the steamy moments and adult conversations and friendships, I hope to see this book shared and publicized more.

I found myself rooting for Vanessa and her journey from a withering wife of an undeserving man to a woman in control and ready to move on. She is smart and vulnerable and I loved that she understands she has emotional baggage but is willing to work on it. Her girl gang was fun to see and I anticipate that they'll be getting their own stories.

The relationship was sweet and their communication was wonderful from talking about their careers and families to the way they feel about each other. This is truly a romance for adults and I welcomed it. I know this is described as a romantic comedy but I wouldn't classify it as a comedy although it had some humorous moments.

A good solid contemporary romance with two adults who both have past trauma but this lovely story sees them work through things together.

Thanks to St. Martins Press and Netgalley for the ARC copy.

Vanessa is two years past her divorce when a man seeks out her help. Michael's sister is engaged to Vanessa's ex, but under the guise that he's a widower and was proposed to with Vanessa's family heirloom ring. All Michael needs is for Vanessa to help reveal the truth about her ex to his sister. The only problem? Vanessa gets stranded in Michael's small town while Michael's sister is stuck out of it.

Vanessa Jared's Got a Man has a fresh and fun premise. I loved the diversity of the cast and this small town romance gets steamy quick. The audiobook is done well and is a fast listen, even though I wished it featured dual narrators, instead of one. The book champions the power of therapy and Vanessa has a great group of friends that support her and push her to get over her fears after her divorce. While I loved the chemistry between Michael and Vanessa, the ending felt rushed and a tad too insta-love for my liking.